Ford’s latest twin recall covers 1.74 million SUVs for rearview camera faults, adding to a 2026 tally already more than halfway to last year’s record. By Stewart Burnett
Ford is conducting yet another recall, affecting 1.74 million vehicles in the US across two separate rearview camera defects, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The first affects 2021–2026 Bronco and 2021–2024 Edge models, where an overheating Accessory Protocol Interface Module can shut down the camera display entirely; the second covers 2020–2024 Explorer and Lincoln Aviator and 2020–2022 Escape and Lincoln Corsair models, where the camera image may flip or invert when reversing.
Software fixes are currently in development for both. Ford has said that it expects a remedy for Bronco and Edge owners by late March. However, no timeline has been set for the Escape, Explorer, Corsair, and Aviator models.
The recalls deepen an already stark picture for Ford recalls in 2026 alone. Thus far the automaker has recalled more than 7.3 million vehicles in the year to date, meaning that in a little over two months it is already more than halfway to 2025’s record-breaking total of 12.92 million across 152 campaigns. With 17 recalls issued so far this year, Ford has more than triple the count of the next-placed automakers; Toyota and Hyundai are tied in second with five each.
While Ford has tried to characterise its recall leadership as aggressive self-policing, this position is arguably becoming somewhat untenable. At a certain point the volume becomes a financial and reputational drag that substantially outweighs any quality-culture argument. Particularly given that warranty costs have consistently eroded its margins, and especially considering that last year it claimed its reliability problems were exclusive to older models and therefore in the rear view.
Unfortunately for Ford, its rear view capabilities are now in severe doubt. The larger issue appears to be software quality: Both camera recalls are software-driven, as was February’s 4.4 million-vehicle campaign covering F-150, Super Duty, and Expedition models for trailer brake lighting faults—the single largest action of the year so far. The concentration of defects in electronics and software is notable given Ford’s stated ambitions to excel in precisely these areas.
Ford’s forthcoming Universal EV platform, due to underpin a US$30,000 midsize pickup from 2027, consolidates the vehicle’s electronic architecture from around 30 control units down to five modules and removes roughly 4,000 feet of wiring. The apparent logic is that fewer components means fewer failure points—and that current recall volume is presumably a consequence of the complexity it is now trying to eliminate.
However, while concentrating vehicle functions into five modules reduces the number of things that can go wrong in isolation, it also means a single software fault has broader consequences. Ford may need to pick up the pace fixing its software problems, then, before it lets any of its more ambitious bets enter series production.